1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor light emitting device and a method for manufacturing the same in which light produced in the light emitting layer is reflected by the electrode.
2. Background Art
Light produced in a semiconductor light emitting device may be directly extracted outside the device, or may repeat reflection inside the semiconductor light emitting device, illustratively at the interface between the substrate and ambient air, and externally extracted from the device surface, the substrate surface, or the side surface of the device. Part of the light is absorbed by the n-side electrode having low reflection efficiency, which contributes to decreasing the light extraction efficiency. On the other hand, the n-side electrode needs to have a somewhat large area because of constraints on electrode design, such as wire bonding based on ball bonding, bump formation for a flip-chip, and reduction of voltage drop due to the contact resistance of the n-side electrode.
JP-A 2000-031588 (Kokai) discloses a technique for providing a semiconductor device made of nitride semiconductor having few crystal defects by forming a high-quality nitride semiconductor on a substrate. A layer having many crystal defects absorbs light emitted from the light emitting layer and causes loss. However, by using such techniques as disclosed in JP-A 2000-031588 (Kokai), light emitted from the light emitting layer can be prevented from being absorbed inside the device.